UB LibGuides: History of Nursing in The Bahamas: Bahamian Nursing History Sources

Books

Health care in The Bahamas by Harold A. Munnings
Call Number: HBL RA456 .B24 M85 2014
ISBN: 9789768231468
Publication Date: 2014
Princess Margaret Hospital by Harold Alexander Munnings
Call Number: HBL RA984.B24 M96 2009
ISBN: 9781441578303
Publication Date: 2009-12-30
In 1965, the Yarmouth Castle, a cruise ship that was laden with American tourists, burned and sank en route to Nassau. The rescue effort and the fight to save the many badly burned survivors was centered at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in The Bahamas. The final toll of 90 lives lost made this one of the worst maritime disasters in North American history. The story of the Yarmouth Castle disaster is a part of the fabric of the story of PMH, a story that begins in the 1780s with the opening of the African Hospital in Nassau. We trace the evolution of the Poor House on Shirley Street into the Bahamas General Hospital, forerunner of the PMH. Along the way we describe a commission of inquiry into hospital corruption (1915), a disruptive doctors strike and even the murder of a hospital nurse on the private ward. We knew that our investigations were probing sensitive areas when officials had difficulty locating reports and photographs. Nevertheless, research trumped resistance. We interviewed pioneers and disaster survivors, studied documents in the National Archives of the Bahamas, the Supreme Court registry, the Ministry of Health and even the library of the United States Coast Guard. Princess Margaret Hospital is much more than a sleepy account of the construction of an old hospital. It is a story of disaster, recovery, survival, philanthropy and genius.

From Crazy Hill to Sandilands : Reflections and memories of a psychiatrist in the Bahamas by Dr John Spencer
Call Number: HBL RC438.6 S64 F76 2016
ISBN: 9789768231550
Publication Date: 2016
When Dr John Spencer accepted a hospital position in The Bahamas in 1963, little did he know how the experience would change his life. His experiences during his first year in Nassau inspired him to undertake postgraduate training in psychiatry, after which he returned to Nassau in 1968 for a four-year posing as a consultant psychiatrist to the Ministry of Health. His recollections of those days form a nostalgic account of life in Nassau. -- Cover
Out Island Doctor by Evans W. Cottman; Wyatt Blassingame
Call Number: HBL R475 B24 C67 1987
ISBN: 9780913428184
Publication Date: 1988-01-01
Out-Island Doctor is the story of Evans Cottman's life in the Bahamas, especially the years on Crooked Island and his itinerate life from Abaco an out-island doctor.
Cottman taught science in Madison, Indiana, was a bachelor and dreamed of doing something different. He decided to retire early and settled on the Bahamas as his retirement location. Cottman had a retirement pension of $28.63 a month, and would have to augment his meager funds by some other means; that ended up being becoming a doctor and he soon became a fairly well-known and respected out-island doctor and much of the rest of the book contains the entertaining stories of his medical career. How could it happen that a retired school teacher could become an island doctor? even happen? He tells us himself: ". . . in the out-islands qualified doctors are practically nonexistent. The Bahamian government therefore has adopted a policy of granting a limited license to persons having certain scientific educational qualifications. These are known as Unqualified Medical Practitioners and may engage in general practice with the exception of major surgery." This is a very rewarding and delightful story.
Westward by Harold Munnings
Call Number: HBL R476 M96 A3 2009
ISBN: 9781441548306
Publication Date: 2009-09-01
1. This is unusual, a memoir written by someone under fifty years of age. What made you write? My parents were growing old, and I wanted to record their stories for my children. My father, who is halfway through his ninth decade, was born during the heyday of Prohibition, twenty years before the discovery of penicillin and thirty years before the hospital that I was born in was even built. He was the first Bahamian qualified civil engineer, and his connection to the public board of works helped to influence development of the City of Nassau at a critical time in its history. As president of the Bahamian Amateur Athletic Association, he traveled with our Olympic team to Rome in 1960. He is really the one who ought to have written a biography, and so should have my mother, whose story is equally compelling, but it was never going to happen. So I took it upon myself to write their stories, and over time, the narrative became my own.
Do No Harm by Cliff Bacchus
Call Number: PR9220.9 .B33 D6 2011
ISBN: 9781458200976
Publication Date: 2011-11-15
Dr. Al Chandler's medical practice is growing by leaps and bounds, but his reputation as an advocate of healthcare reform is growing even faster. Not only is he well-informed and respected, but Chandler oozes charisma, charm, and success so much so that the newly elected president, Abraham King, taps him to be part of the administration. He believes his life couldn't be much better until he meets the mysterious and attractive Pandora Coltman. Pandora can offer him a completely different life. She recruits Chandler to be an emergency room doctor on Atlantic Isle, a tropical paradise in the Bahamas. Chandler can't refuse her. His sense of adventure draws him to the island, as does his attraction to Pandora. Upon his arrival, however, Chandler comes to realize Atlantic Isle houses many unexpected, dangerous secrets, including some kept by Pandora herself. Soon, Pandora turns up dead, and Chandler has to wonder if he might be the killer's next target. He doesn't trust his new boss, Obi Falconer, who runs the Bahamas medical center. Falconer will do anything for power and money maybe even murder. Chandler wants to avenge Pandora's death and bring health reform to Atlantic Isle but someone might kill him first.

Birds eye view of nurses footprints: Bahamas up to 1983 plus by Hilda Valerie Bowen
Publication Date: 1992
Nurses foot prints Bahamas up to 1983 plus: volume 1 by Hilda Valerie Bowen
Publication Date: 1992
Nurses footprints Bahamas up to 1983 plus: volume 2 by Hilda Valerie Bowen
Publication Date: 1992

Databases

Digital Library of the Caribbean
The University of The Bahamas is contributing documents, photographs and other digital resources to the dLOC database. Documents relating to the history and development of the nursing profession, nursing education and leaders in the nursing profession comprise a large part of the collection. Examples of some documents relevant to the history of nursing in the Bahamas include event programmes, newspaper clippings, photographs and other ephemeral publications.

1st Annual National Registered Nurse and Trained Clinical Nurse of the Year Awards Banquet<br />( 4 volumes )

1st Annual National Registered Nurse and Trained Clinical Nurse of the Year Awards Banquet
( 4 volumes )

25th Silver Biennial Conference

Annual nurses pinning ceremony<br />( 10 volumes )

Annual nurses pinning ceremony
( 10 volumes )

Syllabus of Subjects for Examination for the Certificate of Registration: General nursing

COB promotes careers in nursing

College of The Bahamas : The School of Nursing and Allied Professions "Join the Healing Team" ( Poster )

Bahamian Nursing Oral History Project

Nurses and Nursing in the Post-war era: A Study of the Bahamian Experience

Starting in 2014, an oral history project focusing on nurses, nursing practice, and nursing education in The Bahamas during the post-World War II era was established in the Hilda Bowen Library of the University of The Bahamas. Conceived as being a partnership between the Library and University's “From Dat Time”: Oral and Public History Institute, the project aimed to capture the recollections of nurses located across the archipelago who had made contributions to the development of the profession. Interviews were carried out by a multidisciplinary team drawn from the Library and the University’s School of Nursing and Allied Health Professions. Data collected from narrators extended significantly our existing knowledge of the evolution and Bahamianization of the nursing profession. In addition, it clarified specific issues and corroborated a number of claims relating to the experiences of nurses; it gave voice to unique perspectives of nursing professionals; and it brought into view the distinctive experience of the profession during the transition to national independence. These results affirmed the value of using oral history methodology to document hitherto unrecorded testimony. Owing to the choice of methods of collecting data, this knowledge promises to shape the understanding not only of scholars but also of school children and the general public regarding the achievements of nurses in the healthcare system and their contribution to nation-building in The Bahamas.

Oral histories by Bahamian nurse leaders, educators and practitioners are being collected by the School of Nursing and Allied Health Professions and Hilda Bowen Library research team. To date 10 interviews have taken place. Each interview has been recorded and the audio transcript has been transcribed and annotated. Included is a video of the interview and multiple photographs of the narrator. Files include documents and secondary sources.

Ernestine Douglas, former Lecturer and Provost of the Grosvenor Close Campus

Mary L. Johnson, former Director of Nursing, current Chair of the Nursing Council

Esmeralda Rutherford, Nurse Educator

Margaret Ellen Thompson Curry, Oncology Nurse

Miriam Simmonds, Enrolled Nurse

Ivy Wilson, former Matron, Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre

Carmen Hepburn, Nurse Educator

Jacquelyn Wells Dean, former Chair, Nursing and Health Sciences Division, COB

Ampusam Rasiah Symonette, Maternity / Labour Ward Nurse

Stella Watson Amoury, Colonial Nursing Service Nurse, recruited in 1949

Dr Michael Gerassimos, Physician

Hon. Cynthia "Mother" Pratt, Theatre Nurse, Politician, Sports Legend

Doreen Peters, Nurse Educator

Flora Hanna, Enrolled Nurse

Patronella Darville Deleveaux, Nurse Educator